Congress' alliance panel decided to wait and watch the political developments

NEW DELHI: Five months after Congress president Sonia Gandhi set up a committee under defence minister AK Antony to hold talks with possible allies for the next Lok Sabha polls, the six-member panel has decided to wait and watch the political developments before resuming work.

The panel, which has not held any meeting after its first sitting in February, has decided to tactically pause work, a senior leader told ET. "Our main goal is to ensure the UPA-II completes its term. Given this sensitive phase, we have decided to be cautious in our efforts to try and broaden our alliance for the next polls," said the leader, who did not wish to be named.

The party believes that talks with possible new allies may make the government even more vulnerable, given that it is already precariously perched with its increased dependence on outside supporters, SP and BSP, after the departure of DMK from the ruling alliance. Secondly, the leader said, Congress realises that the opposition BJP-led alliance and blocs of about a dozen unattached regional parties are in a state of flux.

After DMK snapped ties with Congress, the party faces the challenge of going it alone in Tamil Nadu as its old ally, DMDK of Captain Vijayakanth, looks set not to contest the next polls. "The upcoming Rajya Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu, after the Karnataka results, can give us some indication of the future alliance," a senior leader said.

In Andhra Pradesh, which helped swing the previous poll in the party's favour, Congress faces a dilemma. YSR Congress and TRS have been in touch with Congress, exploring a patch-up. However, the Congess leadership is divided on statehood for Telangana, with one section batting for a regional development council for the region ansd another insisting that a separate state can be offered only if TRS merges with Congress. So far, TRS has offered to do so only after the new state is announced.

Similarly, in West Bengal, the party is waiting for former ally Mamata Banerjee to firm up her position. It has, however, directed its state unit to take tactical positions along with the Left Front against the Trinamool Congress government headed by Banerjee. In Bihar, though Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan are persuading Congress for revival of the triangular alliance, GOP is holding back, to allow the Nitish Kumar-Narendra Modi skirmishes to play out.

Much of Congress' hopes are, however, tied with the expected backlash from main rival BJP's possible projection of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi as prime ministerial candidate. Besides complicating matters within BJP's alliance, especially with JD (U), Congress hopes Modi's projection would force anti-Congress regional parties sensitive to Muslim voters to stay away from BJP and float a loose Third Front of sorts. A three-way contest, the party believes, will divide the anti-incumbency votes to its benefit.